New Gloucester Budget down
Public hearing Monday, March 28
By Elizabeth Prata


New Gloucester--On Monday, March 28 the New Gloucester Selectmen will hold a public hearing at 7 p.m. to discuss their Fiscal year 2005-06 municipal budget. Both Gray and New Gloucester, the two towns that make up the School Administrative District, as well as the SAD itself, have been developing their budgets.

On Wednesday, March 30, the three entities will hold a joint meeting to present their draft budgets to date. The meeting will be held at the New Gloucester MeetingHouse at 7 p.m. and will include explanations as to the underlying philosophy for each budget and supporting material for any new programs or services being proposed. The SAD and Gray budgets are up, while New Gloucester's is down.

The budget as drafted proposes to spend $6,486,848, which is almost a half million less than was spent last year.

Selectmen Chair Steve Libby said that last year's Tax Reform initiatives were a very important statement from the voters and that whether it had passed at the polls or not, that this budget season the Selectmen would take the message to heart and propose a fiscally conservative budget to the voters for their consideration at Town Meeting in May. New Gloucester's budget has been practically flat for the last decade.

There is a public hearing on the budget at the Meetinghouse on Monday, March 28 at 7 p.m.

Tables showing expenditure and revenue history are available at the Town Office or by requesting an e-mail transmission via Town manager Rosemary Kulow at rkulow@newgloucester.com